


What You Deserve

by Ellie603



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: 3x05 extension, F/M, Jemma/Mack brotp, Mack is a sweetheart, POV Jemma Simmons, and a Fitzsimmons shipper, how to help Will Daniels without hurting Fitzsimmons, return trip to the horrible alien planet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-01
Updated: 2015-11-02
Packaged: 2018-04-29 07:46:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5120537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellie603/pseuds/Ellie603
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>Jemma hated this.</em> Hated <em>it. It had been three days since she told Fitz the whole story of what happened on the alien planet – how she survived, how she tried and tried to get home, how she met Will… Of course it was that last point that was her problem.</em></p><p>How Jemma struggles to bring Will back without losing the person she cares about most in the entire world</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Solution

**Author's Note:**

> So this fic started as a way for me to try to work through all my thoughts on last episode, but it ended up being longer and more complicated than I really intended. I just really needed to find a way to keep Fitzsimmons together because that episode was pretty tough to get through (of course I'm sure they'll figure all this out… it's just probably going to take them the rest of the season… lovely).
> 
> Anyway, I hope you all enjoy my take on how I'd like this whole thing to play out. Enjoy!
> 
> (the other two pretty short parts of this will be posted over the next day or two)

Jemma hated this. _Hated_ it. It had been three days since she told Fitz the whole story of what happened on the alien planet – how she survived, how she tried and tried to get home, how she met Will… Of course it was that last point that was her problem. It was the majority of the reason that she had been so distant with everyone, even Fitz, since she had gotten home.

There were external things that were difficult too – the lights were too bright after living without the sun, the gravity was too weak as she walked, the noises were too sudden and too sharp around her – but, more than anything, it had been Will. She had left him behind, abandoned him on that planet. She didn’t even know if she would ever be able to fix the monolith and bring him back. While she’d been there, at least they’d had each other. Jemma couldn’t bear to think about Will back there alone.

But she hadn’t been able to say anything. How could she tell her best friend in the world that held her so tightly and dropped everything to help her that she, for one thing, had to go back to the planet he had worked so hard to save her from, but, even more important (and difficult to discuss), that the reason she had to go back was to rescue her… boyfriend? Jemma wasn’t sure what to call Will, especially now. They had been together in more ways than one for weeks, a month and a half really, Jemma had figured out, ever since that bottle shattered and Jemma had lost all hope of getting home. She didn’t have her phone. She didn’t have Fitz. It was just her, Will, and the an endless, sunless life together on an alien planet. It was just a way to deal with the situation. He was funny and kind and brave, and she trusted him with her life. Really, she trusted him more than she had trusted anyone, except Fitz. Will cared about her so much, and Jemma cared about him too. Jemma had fallen in love with him, and now Fitz knew.

That was why the past three days had been so terrible. Of course, Fitz had been beyond wonderful. That moment when he stood up without a word and walked into the lab had destroyed Jemma, but then he was pulling up the schematics and all six months worth of his monolith data and Jemma had been speechless. Fitz had looked at her and promised that they would get Will back, and Jemma knew that Fitz was completely serious and would do anything he could to help her. But it was the look in his eyes that crushed her. It was masked hurt and pain, covered up because Fitz was just so selfless that it didn’t matter to him.

Jemma didn’t deserve him… but now Jemma didn’t _have_ him. He asked her questions about the other world and the portal. He explained things about the monolith. He brought in Sk- _Daisy_ to figure out the frequency. But he wasn’t _her_ Fitz. He was distancing himself for her purposefully, clearly trying to show her that he understood the choice she had made to be with Will and not with him. 

But Jemma _hadn’t_ made that choice, and that’s what was tearing her apart. She had chosen to be with Will when that was her only option, but regardless of how she felt about him, that didn’t mean anything was decided or that she didn’t want things to go back to normal with Fitz. She missed him. God, she had missed him. Charging her phone for the first time since she’d gotten home had been so difficult. She’d avoided all the messages she recorded for Fitz, the picture of him she had talked to, the video she had watched so many times. She’d gone back to some of the data she’d recorded and the pictures she’d taken, but anything about Fitz she’d left alone. It hurt too much to know that she couldn’t be completely honest with him, and now it hurt too much to know that he knew the truth and had decided that what he thought was her happiness meant more than his own.

She didn’t deserve him. How could she _ever_ deserve him? 

“Jemma.” Fitz’s voice pulled her away from her thoughts. 

Jemma looked up from her station, putting on her best attempt at an normal expression. “Yeah, Fitz?”

“I think I’ve figured something out.”

Jemma quickly moved to stand next to him in front of the computer screen, momentarily forgetting how weird things were between them in her interest in what Fitz had discovered. 

On the screen was a scan of the monolith, as well as a layout of all the current monolith pieces and their locations on the original monolith.

“You finished the whole analysis?” Jemma turned to Fitz, wide-eyed. Only yesterday had they finished sifting through data and turned to the pieces of the monolith they had left.

Fitz shrugged modestly. “Not too hard really. What will be tricky is piecing it back together like this. I think we might be able to get it to work again if we have all the pieces in their exact spots on the monolith.”

“What about all the gravel and dust?” Jemma asked worriedly.

Fitz shook his head. “My theory is that the portal doesn’t need the entire monolith, just some important pieces in the right spots. With any luck, the biggest pieces are the ones we need.” 

“So we just need something to hold them together.”

Fitz nodded, furrowing his brow. “But it has to allow them to liquefy. It needs to mimic the conditions of the rock or even not exist entirely. If I could suspend them in midair…” Fitz trailed off.

Jemma stared at the pictures in front of her, deep in thought. “Well, before we do anything we need a-”

“model,” the said in unison, grinning at each other as they spoke.

“We could make a mold based on the pieces and see what happens when we stick them in,” Fitz said excitedly, his hands flying across the paper in front of him as he took down notes.

“And we can expose it to the frequency, just to make sure it works,” Jemma nodded along.

Fitz grinned excitedly. “With any luck, we should have the pieces liquefying even if it’s not the whole thing.”

“That could even be enough to send a message through to the other side!” Jemma added, just as enthusiastic.

“Yeah!” Fitz said, jumping up. “That could work! We’d just need to write… a note… or you’d write a note.” Instantly, the wall had come back up between them. Just the thought of Will was enough to set Fitz back behind the line he had drawn for himself. 

“Anyway,” Fitz said, sitting back down and talking very determinedly to the floor, “I’ll get that made up.”

Jemma merely nodded, not trusting herself to speak. A small tear slipped down her cheek.

“Could you work on the analysis for the smaller bits, just in case we need that?” Fitz barely looked at her as she offered a small sound in the affirmative.

There was a curt nod from Fitz in response and the lab was left in silence.

And that was how their days went. One moment they were rejoicing over a discovery, and the next there was an impassable gorge between them as though it was Fitz who was separated from Jemma in another world rather than Will.

It wasn’t as though Fitz was angry with her or was acting hurt. He seemed to be trying to remove anything even slightly nonplatonic from their relationship, letting her go now rather than waiting for Will to get back and make it official.

Jemma just wanted to know how Fitz felt, but he didn’t let that slip out besides flashes of hurt behind his eyes. She wished that Fitz would understand that she was horribly confused and just wanted everything to go back to normal. The whole situation made Jemma’s head hurt.

Almost worse was the reactions of the rest of the team. Jemma had given Bobbi permission to tell them what had happened, but Bobbi only knew the bare bones story – Jemma had survived on the planet with the help of an astronaut named Will Daniels, and she needed to go back through the portal to bring him back to Earth.

Coulson was extremely wary of the plan. He had promised Randolph that he would destroy the portal and the idea of bringing it back to life, regardless of how much better they understood it now, was not something he was particularly on board with. Mack was similarly opposed to the idea after what had happened to Jemma, what Fitz had gone through, and, most recently, how it had affected Daisy.

Daisy, for her part, was giving Jemma some space. She was definitely busy, but Jemma knew that she was keeping her distance. Some combination of Jemma’s focus on the monolith and the weird air between Jemma and Fitz definitely were bothering her Inhuman friend.

Bobbi was the only one that Jemma could really talk to. She didn’t ask questions, she just let Jemma talk about whatever she needed to. Jemma didn’t want to tell Bobbi that the reason Fitz was keeping his distance from her was that she and Will had been romantically involved, but she was certain that Bobbi had some suspicions. Every so often, Bobbi would suggest, hesitantly, that Jemma talk to Fitz, but Jemma would shut down and Bobbi would change the subject.

Bobbi and Fitz had gotten very close in her absence, Jemma had discovered, so Jemma was worried that Fitz would tell Bobbi everything, but, even after weeks, he hadn’t, to her knowledge, said a word about it to anyone. Jemma would have given anything to be able to see what he was thinking, but, with that not an option, she just had to try her hardest to keep things as normal as possible. Those were the moments Jemma loved most. The thrill of a new challenge, an unfamiliar phenomenon, the long awaited solution to a problem; that was how she and Fitz had started way back at the Academy. There was nothing they couldn’t do together, and no amount of time, no experiences, no sort-of-boyfriends from other planets could change that.

“Ugh, Fitz!” Jemma complained at the monitor displaying the results of all the material tests they had done to try to find an effective material to act as an addition to and extension of the monolith. Some extensive model building, modification of one of the S.H.I.E.L.D. vaults into a massive subwoofer, a la the castle in England, and numerous trials had resulted in a slight change in properties of the rocks, but not the formation of an actual portal, which proved that Fitz’s theory about placing the pieces back in the right places was correct, but also that the monolith needed more than just the main pieces.

Fitz looked up at her, eyebrows raised. “Yeah?” 

“Oh,” Jemma started as she realized what she had said. It had become habit on the other planet for her to use Fitz’s name when she was frustrated, as though willing him to the desolate wasteland to help her solve the problem. “Just, um, I’m upset that we haven’t found a good medium yet.”

Fitz nodded his agreement, his eyes turning back to the screen he was looking at. 

Before Jemma could turn back to her own work though, she saw Fitz’s eyes light up. “Jemma!”

Jemma was on her feet even before he finished saying her name.

“Here’s the answer!” He pointed to the screen at a very particular combination of chemicals and materials. 

Jemma glanced through it quickly, a smile growing wider and wider across her face. This substance seemed to finally be consistent with all the data from the tests Fitz had run on the monolith.

“You did it, Fitz!” Jemma turned to him, her eyes wide with excitement. 

“We don’t know if it’s actually going to work,” Fitz cautioned. “It’s just a theory.” 

“It’s going to work,” Jemma replied confidently. “How did you figure this out?” 

Fitz shrugged. “I’ve been running a lot of simulations, stuff I’d tried to do back before. I guess I just got lucky.” 

Jemma shook her head. “Not lucky. Brilliant, Fitz.” Without thinking, she threw her arms around him. 

Fitz returned the hug for a moment, but then he stiffened and drew back.

Jemma dropped her arms to her sides, her face falling. 

Fitz was avoiding her gaze. “I’ll get to work getting a mold made up, and then we can see if we can get your, uh, friend back.” 

Jemma was pretty sure she hadn’t imagined the thickening of Fitz’s voice as he said “friend.” 

“Oh, right,” Jemma replied, moving back from him. 

Fitz inhaled and then moved away from his station. “I’ll be right back,” he called behind him, not sounding particularly convincing.

Jemma was left standing alone in the middle of the lab. 

They had potentially just figured out a way for Jemma to get back to the planet and find Will, and Jemma was at a crossroads. She had put so much thought into figuring out how to get Will back from the planet that she hadn’t really thought about what was going to happen once they made it back to Earth. 

Jemma had the sudden desire to go talk to Bobbi about everything. She’d been cooped up in her own head about Will for too long. 

She left the lab and headed for the most likely place to find her, the small workout room that Bobbi had been using for her rehab. 

Jemma was so focused on making it to her destination that she almost didn’t notice the object of her search standing in the kitchen, with none other than Fitz standing in front of her.

Jemma froze and stepped back so she was just out of sight of her friends, but still close enough to hear their conversation. 

“Just tell me what’s going on, Fitz,” Bobbi said, her voice pleading in a way that Jemma had never heard before. “You haven’t been yourself for weeks, and now I come into the kitchen to find you having a break down in front of a pot of tea? Fitz, what’s wrong?”

Jemma sank to the ground silently at Bobbi’s words. Just the knowledge that she had upset Fitz so much made Jemma want to back to her room and scream into her pillow. In all her time with Fitz, she had never hurt him as much as she had the past couple years. Before they went into the field, they just had almost daily lab disputes, but even through them they were always on the same page. But then last year Fitz had been hurt and Jemma had left him to help him but he thought she’d abandoned him and they had only just finally, sort of, figured things out when this happened. The monolith had ruined the most important relationship in her entire life, and she had no idea how to fix it. 

“It’s not-” Fitz choked out, clearly trying to keep his emotions in check. “It’s not anything to do with me.”

Jemma leaned her head into her knees. 

“Hell it doesn’t have anything to do with you,” Bobbi fired back. “You’re a mess, Fitz. No one acts like this when something doesn’t have anything to do with them.” 

“It’s not about me.” Fitz’s words were calmer now. 

There was a pause, and Jemma wondered what was happening. 

“So it’s about Jemma and this other guy then?” Bobbi’s words were much kinder now. 

“Her boyfriend,” Fitz said, his words toneless. 

“Boyfriend?” Bobbi asked, unsure. 

“Yeah. She loves him.” Fitz’s words were empty. 

Tears came to Jemma’s eyes, unbidden. How could she have caused so much pain to someone that she cared about so much? 

“Oh, Fitz.” There was the sound of movement, and Jemma assumed Bobbi had pulled Fitz in for a hug. “She loves you too, you know.” 

“Not like that.” Fitz took a deep breath. “But it’s fine, Bobbi, really. She and Will, they had this whole experience together, and it’s something that I’ll never be able to share with her. He kept her safe and they relied on each other, and he seems like a really great guy from what Jemma says. It’s been kind of tough to deal with, but Jemma’s moved on.” He laughed slightly, a hollow mirthless sound. “There was never actually anything between us anyway. Never had the chance for that.”

Jemma felt like her heart was shattering into a million pieces. 

“Fitz-”

“Theoretically, we’ll be able to get Will back in a few days,” Fitz interrupted whatever Bobbi was going to say. “I’ll have to start getting used to this now, since he’ll probably be hanging around. He seems pretty tough. Coulson could probably use him once he gets acclimated to Earth. Poor guy’s been gone fourteen years. He’s missed a lot.” 

Jemma stared straight ahead as tears dripped down her cheeks. Here was Fitz, crushed by Jemma falling in love with another man, now sorting through ways to help him, sympathizing with him, trying not to get in the way. Fitz was so good. How could she live with this? 

Jemma stood up silently and made her way back to the lab, so Fitz and Bobbi wouldn’t see that she had been eavesdropping. She wiped the tears from her eyes and tried to think, but then Fitz returned and everything that wasn’t silence was a comment on the monolith. 

Same old, same old.


	2. Search

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we meet again stupid alien planet with your death-bringing dust storms and Will Daniels. There's also some lovely Jemma/Mack friendship stuff in here that kind of just happened, but I really love it a lot.
> 
> Thanks so much for everyone who's left comments and kudos!!! You all are the best ever!!!
> 
> Enjoy!!

It took them three days, but they finally had their mold with the monolith pieces in their proper places, the subwoofer ready, and a team assembled. Coulson had insisted that Jemma and even Fitz with Jemma couldn’t go through that portal alone. Daisy, he wanted as far away from the subwoofer as possible, so she was going to stay behind in a far away part of the base with Bobbi. Mack, however, was going to accompany them, just to give Coulson peace of mind.

Coulson had been given careful instruction on how to operate the subwoofer while they were through the portal. Jemma didn’t know where they were going to end up, but she hoped she would be able to at least vaguely recognize the location. 

“Ready?” Fitz asked, standing next to the lever with Coulson at his side. Jemma stood with Mack around the shallow pit where Fitz had set up the makeshift monolith. 

Jemma nodded, and Fitz took a deep breath. 

“Here we go.”

He flipped the level and immediately the monolith began moving. It was behaving as though it wasn’t completely sure whether to liquefy or not, but after a few moments of suspense, it finally dissolved. 

“Move!” Fitz called, and Jemma jumped through the portal. 

She landed hard on the other side, getting up as Fitz joined her, a rope in his hand that was connected to the wall of the vault back at base.. 

“Looks like it works then,” Fitz said, puling on the rope, the sign for Mack to follow them through the portal. 

As the large man landed beside them and turned to look at the desolate landscape, his mouth fell open. 

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” 

Jemma turned to her companions with a small, joyless smile. “Home sweet home.” 

“Do you know where we are, Jemma?” Fitz asked, pulling out his scanner to take in readings from the terrain. 

Jemma looked around thinking for a moment. Ridges and boulders and rock formations surrounded them, just like they did everywhere on this planet, but Jemma gave a hesitant nod. “I should be able to see from up here.” She pointed toward the nearest ridge. 

The trio hurried up to the top, Jemma peering around for familiar landmarks. 

As they reached the overlook, Jemma suddenly knew exactly where they were. She pointed to a ledge far off in the distance. “That’s where we were when we saw the flare, which was way off there.” She pointed slightly to the left of the ledge. “But we live not too far past that ridge. Or Will lives not too far past that ridge,” Jemma corrected herself. 

She saw Fitz stiffen beside her. 

“We should get a message back to HQ,” Mack said evenly from behind her, amazement still written all over his face. 

Fitz nodded and held up one of the DWARFs to his lips so he could record a message to send back to Coulson.

As Fitz spoke to the drone, Mack turned to Jemma, shaking his head. “You lived here for six months.” 

“I am definitely aware of that fact.” 

“Okay,” Fitz turned back to them and pointed back the way they had come just in time for Jemma to see the tiny drone get swallowed up by the portal. “Bashful’s sent the message, so let’s get moving.” 

And they did. Jemma had forgotten just how much walking was required on this planet. Hours of trekking across the desolate terrain had just seemed like a way to pass the time back then, but now that they were in a hurry, Jemma was impatient. 

“How much further, Simmons?” Mack asked after nearly two hours, clearly not prepared for this. 

“Sorry,” Jemma apologized genuinely. “I’d forgotten how far everything is on this planet. It really shouldn’t be too much longer though.” 

“Don’t know if I believe that,” Mack grumbled under his breath, making Jemma crack a smile.

“No, really!” Jemma said, shaking her head. “It should be-” She stopped, paying closer attention to her surroundings. “Wait, there!” she pointed to the large rock mound that marked home. “We’ve made it!” 

Jemma took off running for the entrance, leaving Mack and Fitz behind.

Jemma pounded on the hatch as she reached it. 

Mack joined her, breathing heavily. 

Jemma looked up to find Fitz, but he wasn’t there.

“What? Where-?” 

“Fitz wanted to get a head start back to base. He said Coulson’s probably losing his mind, which is true. He left me this.” Mack held up one of the DWARFs, Happy, Jemma recognized. With a pang she realized that the DWARFs name was a message to her. This was Fitz letting her go. 

“But it’s too danger-” Jemma tried to argue, but the hatch opened in front of them, stopping Jemma’s words. A pair of very wary looking eyes peaked out at her. Will. 

“Jemma?” he said, moving out of the hatch slightly, disbelief evident in his voice, “Is that really you?” 

A grin spread across Jemma’s face in spite of her thoughts about Fitz. “It’s me, Will. We’ve come to take you home.” 

Will shook his head, opening the door fully, gazing on her with astonishment and nothing less than utter admiration. “How are you here?”

“Fitz and I fixed the portal so I could come back. He’s a bit ahead of us going back now.” She tried not to think about all the ways Fitz could be hurt out there by himself. 

“You and Fitz,” Will repeated, his expression unreadable. “I’ll be glad to finally meet him.” His eyes flicked over to the looming figure of Mack. 

“Oh!” Jemma said quickly. “This is Mack, part of our S.H.I.E.L.D. team.” 

Will lifted himself completely out of the tunnel to shake Mack’s hand. “Nice to meet you.” 

“You, too,” Mack nodded back. 

Then Will turned to Jemma and pulled her into his arms. 

It was so familiar, Will’s embrace. Hugs in excitement after Jemma made breakthroughs trying to figure out how to get home. For comfort when she particularly missed Fitz and the rest of her family. And then their nights together… Yes, it was very familiar, but Jemma couldn’t relax into it as she once had. Her thoughts were with her friend roaming the deserted wasteland alone with just a couple drones for company.

“I thought I’d never see you again,” Will whispered into her hair, his hands running up and down her back. “I was so glad you were safe, but the thought of living here without you was so terrible.” He kissed the side of her head. “Jemma.” 

Jemma took a deep breath. She couldn’t do this right now. That she had missed Will was a given, and that she cared for him deeply was certain, but Jemma was too confused to figure out anything else. Fitz was quite possibly dead, and it was all her fault. 

“Let’s get you back to base,” Jemma said with as genuine a smile as she could manage, trying not to seem like she was pushing him away, because she really was incredibly happy to see him. “We’ve got a bit of a hike back to the portal. Is there anything you want to grab?” 

Will nodded, confusion in his eyes at Jemma’s behavior. “It’ll just be a minute, if you want to wait down here. Say goodbye to home one last time.” 

Jemma offered him a weak smile at his joke and then followed him down into the underground room that had been her home for months. 

Mack was looking at her and Will strangely, but Jemma didn’t want to think about that now. 

“Here’s the place,” Will said to Mack, clearly trying to get a laugh out of Jemma. 

Mack nodded politely as he scanned the room, and Jemma did the same. Nothing had changed since she had left. Even her bed was still beside Will’s. 

“I couldn’t bring myself to change anything after you left,” Will said, staring at their beds, pulling Jemma from her thoughts. He was smiling at her softly like he always did. Jemma’s smile failed to match his.

 Will started rummaging through his things. “You should take these,” he said, handing Jemma their enormous map and her pages and pages of notes on the stars and the portal. 

For the first time, Jemma’s face lit up in a wide smile. “These would have been helpful to have back at base! I was going all from memory, and I think Fitz was getting rather frustrated.” At Fitz’s name Jemma’s face fell. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Will’s smile falter too. 

“Ready?” Mack said after a few moments. 

Will did a quick scan across the room and nodded. What Jemma knew to be his most prized possessions were in his hands, and Jemma held their notes. 

Mack climbed out first, and Jemma quickly followed him, avoiding Will who seemed to be trying to catch her eye. 

As soon as she stepped out beside Mack, the larger man pulled her aside. 

“What’s going on between you and Mr. Spaceman?” Mack asked, narrowing his eyes. “Does this have anything to do with Turbo taking off as soon as we got here?” 

Jemma tried to blink back tears. “I don’t know, Mack.” That wasn’t entirely true, but Will had already made it outside, and Jemma knew she couldn’t go into it. 

Mack’s face softened, and he put his hand on Jemma’s shoulder, squeezing it lightly.

Jemma looked up at him, surprised. She and Mack had never been close by any definition, but she was suddenly very glad to have him there. 

“Which direction?” Will asked, his face much more closed off than it had been down in the underground room. 

Jemma pointed. “Two hours that way, roughly.” 

Will nodded. “Easy.” 

“Don’t think I’d call that easy,” Mack muttered before turning to Jemma. “How far ahead do you think Fitz is?” 

Jemma shook her head. “I don’t know. I’m so angry at him for going back like that. He could get lost or hurt or something horrible could happen.” 

“Calm down, Simmons,” Mack said evenly, holding out Happy. “Just send him a message.” 

Jemma nodded vigorously and moved the device up to her mouth. 

Will stared at her, confused. 

Jemma held the drone out to show him. “It’s called a DWARF. Fitz and I developed them and named them after the seven dwarves. This one’s Happy. They can take all sorts of readings, depending on the model, but we rigged them up with mics so we could record messages to send back through the portal to Coulson. Or to each other apparently because _Fitz_ decided to go off on an alien planet by himself.” Jemma shook her head angrily and turned her attention back to the DWARF. 

“FITZ! How dare you just run off like that! Do you know how worried I am? This place is so dangerous! I know you were worried about the range of the DWARFs, but you didn’t even tell me what you were doing. Please tell me you’re okay.” Jemma paused. “And we have Will and we’re heading back to base. See you soon.” Jemma pressed some buttons on the DWARF, and it flew off ahead of them to return to its siblings. 

The trio walked in silence, Jemma nervously wringing her hands as she waited for a response from Fitz. 

Finally, she spotted a black dot on the horizon, and she immediately breathed a sigh of relief, her anger fading with her worry.

This time the DWARF was Grumpy, which made Jemma grin widely. Another not-so-subtle message from Fitz. 

She pressed a button, and Fitz’s voice filled the air around them. 

“Sorry, Jemma. I just figured I should get the news back to base as quick as possible. I’m so glad Will’s okay. See you soon.” 

Jemma shook her head slightly at Fitz’s genuine expression of happiness at her and Mack finding Will. 

“I’m excited to meet Fitz after hearing so much about him,” Will said with a small smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. 

“The kid’s brilliant,” Mack spoke up, smiling at just the mention of his friend. “When I met him he was having trouble even stringing words together, let alone sentences – aphasia. His brain had been deprived of oxygen for so long. But now you’d never even know. And even when he had trouble with words, he was still the smartest guy around. Knew everything. And he’s even smarter with Simmons.” Mack nodded to Jemma who had been smiling softly to herself at Mack’s admiration for Fitz. “These two are insane if you put them together. It took you guys what, three weeks, to put the monolith back together?” 

Jemma shrugged modestly, still smiling. 

Mack shook his head. “You’re a lucky guy to have those two working on getting back here. I don’t think anyone else could have done it.” 

Will nodded. “Of course I don’t know Fitz, but Jemma almost got us back with just a sextant, some outdated equipment, and her phone battery.”

Mack grinned. “Sounds about right.”

No one spoke for a moment. 

“So you’ve been gone 14 years, huh?” Mack said finally. 

Will nodded. “Longest years of my life. Nothing much to do for entertainment. Would have killed for some Monday Night Football.” 

“Amen to that,” Mack laughed, clapping Will on the shoulder. 

“So, give it to me straight, Mack,” Will said, his face deadpan. “how are my Dallas Cowboys doing?” 

Jemma raised her eyebrows as Mack laughed, and he and Will started talking football. She and Will had never really talked about silly stuff like TV or sports while Jemma was with him. They spent most of the time focusing on day-to-day things like what they were going to have for dinner and what was over in that far away part of the planet. Sometimes, mostly evenings, they would talk about their memories of the past. Jemma had shared stories of Fitz and the team and even her childhood and her parents, while Will had talked a little about NASA but had mostly offered stories about the shenanigans he and his brothers had gotten into when they were younger. Occasionally, they even talked about the future – what they most wanted to do when they got home, and, later, what on-planet plans they wanted to make, like their picnic to watch the sunrise. But they never really talked about other interests. It didn’t really surprise Jemma that Will would be in to American football, but it was just odd for her to see this other side of him. She and Will had gotten along very well personality-wise, but in terms of other interests, Jemma really didn’t know. She tuned out the discussion of sports and scores and seasons and looked out around the landscape instead, pulling out her phone to take some last pictures just for further analysis in the hopefully very distant future. 

“I’ll have to show you our 2015 video games,” Mack was saying more than an hour later after he and Will had gone through sports and TV shows and current events and technology (only the last two really piquing Jemma’s interest). “Graphics are so much better than 2001.” 

Will grinned widely at Mack. “I really can’t wait. I can’t believe how much everything’s changed. It’s only been fourteen years.”

Mack shook his head. “You have _no_ idea, man.” 

The conversation lulled for a moment, but then Will broke the silence. “Oh no.” 

There, far ahead of them, was the dust cloud. The one that brought death. 

Jemma had only one thought as she watched it come up over the horizon. “Fitz.” She turned to Mack, shaking her head, terrified. “Mack, we’ve got to get to Fitz. It’s going to kill him. FITZ!” Jemma screamed, taking off running toward the dust cloud. 

Almost immediately, arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her back behind a cliff face.

“Jemma! Are you crazy?” Will stared at her, his arms still around her and his eyes blazing. “You know what that thing can do. I don’t even know how it’s still around. I shot him right when you left, but I’ve seen it a couple times since then.”

“Who says it isn’t just a regular dust storm?” Mack suggested from Will’s other side. 

Will and Jemma both glared at Mack. 

“Or it’s death,” he amended quickly. 

“Fitz is out there, Will,” Jemma pleaded. “Fitz is out there alone, and it’s my fault. He might die, Will. I couldn’t… I couldn’t live if Fitz died.” Jemma covered her face in her hands, trying to hold it together as she leaned into Will’s chest. 

She felt a hand on her shoulder, and she turned to see Mack looking down at her, his eyes full of understanding. 

And then it hit, dust flew around everywhere, as Will, Mack, and Jemma pressed themselves against the cliff face to shield themselves from the worst of it. 

“IF YOU SEE ANYONE,” Will yelled to Mack and Jemma above the noise, “DON’T GO NEAR IT. IT ISN’T REAL.” 

Jemma squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the storm to die around her. 

After a few minutes, the sand settled and the wind stopped and Jemma took a deep breath and opened her eyes. 

“You okay, Jem?” Will asked, stepping back from her, rubbing her arm gently. 

Jemma nodded, but she was lying. Fitz could be dead for all she knew. 

Without hesitating, she moved Grumpy to her lips. “Fitz, are you okay? Fitz, please tell me you’re okay. Please tell me it didn’t get you, Fitz.”

A moment later the device was flying away. 

“We can’t have that much further to go,” Mack said moving out from behind the cliff. “I think I remember this from pretty early in our walk over.” 

Jemma looked around and nodded. “Half an hour or less.” 

Mack turned to Jemma, his eyebrows raised. “Maybe Fitz made it back before the storm.” 

Jemma hadn’t thought of that. The corners of her mouth turned upward slightly. “Maybe he did.”

They walked much quicker the rest of the way, Jemma searching for signs of Grumpy or one of the other DWARFs flying back to her, but there was nothing.

“I’m sure he’s fine, Jemma,” Mack said reassuringly as they walked up the ridge that they had first come to when they arrived on the planet. 

Jemma didn’t respond. 

As they made it up over the ridge, Jemma was grateful to see that the portal was still open in the ground. 

“Right there, man,” Mack pointed out to Will, and Will nodded, grinning. 

“I’m so ready for real food.” 

Jemma pulled on the rope that they had left behind, the signal that they were coming back through so Coulson would prepare to shut off the subwoofer. 

A few seconds later the trio stepped into the portal and were left in the shallow pit with a reformed fake monolith that Jemma instantly noticed didn’t look the same as it had when she and Fitz had painstakingly put it together earlier.

“So, you must be Will Daniels,” Coulson extended a hand down to Will to help him out of the pit. “We’re glad to have you.” 

Jemma crawled up out of the pit by herself, her eyes searching. 

And there was Fitz, standing by the lever looking both satisfied and resigned.

“Fitz!” Jemma yelled and raced toward him, throwing her arms around him. “I thought you were dead, Fitz. Why didn’t you send Grumpy back to me?”

Fitz stayed stiff as she hugged him. “Calm down, Jemma. ‘M fine. I would have sent Grumpy back but the monolith was misbehaving.” He pulled back from her slightly. “You see how it’s a not exactly the same shape?” He pointed at the monolith. “I think it wasn’t built to be held open for so long.” 

Jemma nodded, not particularly caring anymore. “But the dust storm, Fitz. Death.” 

Fitz shook his head. “I saw it coming and got out right before it hit. I was never in any danger.” 

Jemma sighed, relieved. “Good.”

“So you’re the famous Fitz.” Will had come over to join them, leaning slightly on Mack for support. “I’ve heard a _lot_ about you.” Will didn’t seem to be as beat up and exhausted as Jemma had been when she had come through the portal, but Jemma could tell that Will wasn’t doing as well as he was pretending. She moved to stand beside him, adjusting his arm so she was supporting some of his weight. 

Fitz smiled politely in response. “I’ve heard a fair bit about you too.” 

Will’s smile faltered slightly. “Um, well Mack and Jemma said they never could have rescued me without you, so, just, thanks, man. You really are the genius Jem always made you out to be.” 

Fitz’s face darkened slightly as Will called her “Jem” rather than Jemma, but he shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. It was no trouble.” He paused. “But thanks for keeping Jemma safe and looking out for her when I…” Fitz seemed to be searching the right words to say. “Well, she said you saved her life more than once and I… I can’t thank you enough for that. I don’t know what I, um, _we_ would have done if Jemma hadn’t made it back.” Fitz glanced down at Jemma for a moment before turning back to Will.

“Of course.” Will nodded at him seriously. 

Fitz sighed and turned back to Jemma. “You need to get him up to the med center. And make sure he gets lost of rest. I know how exhausted you were when you got back.” He turned to walk back to Coulson and Mack. 

“Fitz, wait-” Jemma called after him, not sure what she needed him to wait for, but not liking the finality in his words.

“No, it’s fine, Jemma.” Fitz stared at her in that way that always felt like his eyes were boring into her soul. “It’s fine.” 

As Jemma helped Will up the stairs, she heard Mack’s low voice behind her.

“You really scared her running off like that, Fitz. I don’t know what’s up with her and Will, but she spent half the trip back worrying about you.” 

“That’s just who Jemma is, Mack,” came Fitz’s reply. “Doesn’t mean anything.”

Jemma took a deep breath and tried not to think about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just as an aside: Will's football team preference comes from the fact that the actor who plays him (Dillon Casey) is from Dallas and has absolutely nothing to do with my personal feelings on the team in question (though, full disclosure - I absolutely hate the Dallas Cowboys).


	3. Decision

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well this is the chapter that was what this fic was actually supposed to be when I started it, so I'm glad we finally got here in the end. Hopefully things won't get too awful for our poor ship tomorrow, but at the very least this chapter should provide some fluffy resolution so you can pretend whatever they do to our poor science babies isn't happening.
> 
> But seriously thank you guys so much for all the absolutely lovely comments and kudos on this fic. You all have no idea how much they all mean to me.
> 
> Enjoy!!

That was the last Jemma really saw of Fitz for the next week as she, Bobbi, and Mack helped Will acclimate to life on Earth in 2015. Fitz was catching up on stuff for Coulson, Bobbi told her, but Jemma knew that if Fitz really wanted to be around, he would have been around. Fitz was letting her go, for real this time. So Jemma let herself be occupied with Will’s recovery instead.

Bobbi had insisted that she be the one to serve as Will’s “doctor,” claiming that Jemma was still recovering herself. That wasn’t completely true, since Jemma had been back for a couple months at that point and was physically fine, but Jemma knew her mental and emotional health were definitely suspect so she let Bobbi take the lead. With their mutual affection for Jemma, Bobbi and Will had been able to talk easily, and after just a few days, the pair were already well along the way to becoming good friends. 

Mack, for his part quickly made good on his promise of 2015 video games, and the men had easily fallen into a friendship for which Jemma was extremely grateful. The booming laugh that Jemma had only ever heard once or twice from Will back on the other planet when he had talked about his brothers now was a common feature of the lounge as Will, Mack, and occasionally even Daisy yelled over each other in (relatively) lighthearted competition. 

But even though Bobbi had taken charge of Will’s physical health and Mack was covering entertainment, the majority of Will’s transition to 2015 life had fallen on Jemma, and Jemma at least knew that she wasn’t handling it particularly well. 

She had spent so much of her time after she got back from the other planet with Fitz, and she understood the feeling of needing to be close to someone after such a traumatic experience, but Jemma wasn’t sure what to do with Will. She wanted to help him get through this, but she didn’t know if she could be that emotional rock that Will needed at a time like this; she felt like she still needed a rock of her own. But that rock, of course, was Fitz. 

The only times she had really felt connected with Will since she’d found him were when he handed her all the notes she had left behind and the moment that Mack had insinuated that the dust cloud wasn’t death coming to take them. Those were moments that had been purely their own, callbacks to how she and Will had dealt with the challenges of the other planet for all those months. That’s what their relationship had been built on – mutual trust and determination in the face of obstacles, shared circumstances and the necessity of survival. Beyond that there was laughing and kindness and comfort and all those little things that had made Jemma happy during their last weeks together and that had eventually made Jemma really fall in love with Will on the alien planet, but Jemma wasn’t sure if all those things were enough to keep their relationship together back on Earth. 

Will was still in love with her; Jemma could see that easily. The day she had left, they had been perfectly happy together, and, for Will, things could slip easily back into the way they were without a problem. But it was what happened after that day they had set out to watch the sunrise that had changed things for Jemma and made everything so much more complicated. 

She had come back to her old life and discovered that the person who had been little short of her entire world for the better part of the last ten years was waiting for her, looking at her like she was the sun and the stars… like she was the most amazing thing in the universe. It would have been entirely impossible for her to just ignore that, especially since she wasn’t even sure how things stood with Will. 

Even after just a few days back, she could see that her hesitancy was beginning to rub off on former other-planetary companion. When she excused herself from conversations between Will and Mack or Bobbi to head back to the lab to work on something, anything, to clear her mind, a flicker would pass behind Will’s eyes, not as though he were annoyed or angry with her, but just as though he were wondering if they really had that much in common anyway, if what they had had on the other planet was actually sustainable on this one. She and Will were able to keep up a steady conversation as she helped him re-figure out life on Earth and look up his brothers and the families of his team members, but once he figured it all out, Jemma wasn’t sure what exactly their relationship would be about. 

After a week, Will was starting to talk to Jemma and Bobbi about maybe heading back into the real world, finding his brothers to telling them what had happened and getting in touch with NASA so they could help him get back on his feet. Coulson had offered him a job at S.H.I.E.L.D. but Will hadn’t made any sort of decision. He seemed to be waiting for Jemma. 

“Hey, Simmons.” 

Jemma looked up from the Inhuman busywork she was doing for Coulson, just to keep her mind occupied, and found Mack standing in front of her. 

“Hi, Mack. Did you need something?” Jemma asked, trying to sound more cheerful than she felt. 

Mack sighed slightly. “I don’t need anything, but I think you do.”

Jemma didn’t respond, so he continued.

“Will told me about you two, but he doesn’t really know what to do now. Said the ball’s in your court.” Mack paused. “Now, I don’t know what’s going on in your head, but there’s people here who need you to figure it out. A couple people actually.” 

Jemma looked at the floor, ashamed, knowing Mack was referring to Fitz. 

“I just wanted to let you know that no one thinks you did anything wrong, Simmons.” 

Jemma looked up at Mack, confused. 

“I know you didn’t mention Will before because of Fitz,” Mack continued, “but whatever happened there, we don’t resent you for it. _None_ of us do,” he emphasized. “You made the choices you had to make.” 

Jemma let silence settle around them for a moment before the words finally ripped out of her. “But how could anyone understand that? How could anyone _not_ resent me after all of this?” This was the worry that had been eating away at her for months. 

“You know why,” Mack replied, letting her know that he understood exactly who she meant by “anyone.” 

Mack turned to leave, but before he walked away he dropped a small black object in front of Jemma. A DWARF. Grumpy. 

Jemma turned to Mack, bewildered. 

“Just listen.” 

And then he left Jemma alone. 

Jemma stared at the device for a moment, confused, before lifting it up and hitting the button to play the recording. 

“I’m fine, Jemma. I made it out before – wait, Coulson, what’s going on? You can’t let it solidify; it might break apart again! COULSON! HOLD ON TO THAT! I’M NOT LOSING JEMMA AGAIN! IT’S BREAKING UP! WE CAN’T LET IT-”

The recoding went dead. 

It was from the day they got Will back. The message that Fitz had never sent her. She hadn’t realized that when Fitz said the monolith was “misbehaving,” what he had really meant was that the portal had almost broken and trapped her, Will, and Mack on the other side. 

She played it back again, listening closely. 

“I’M NOT LOSING JEMMA AGAIN” 

“I,” Fitz said, not “we.” 

Jemma was struck by just how similar his reaction to almost losing her had been to hers when she thought she had lost Fitz in the dust storm. They needed each other. They always had. 

Jemma took a deep breath. There was something she needed to do. 

That night, Jemma scrolled quickly through her pictures of the barren landscape and found the one photo that had been her constant companion for all those months until her phone died, the one of Fitz. Jemma stared at him, a small smile on his face as he sat back in his chair wearing a cardigan, much different from the linen shirts he had been wearing since she’d been back. She hadn’t seen him look that content since she’d come home. 

After a few minutes, Jemma finally tore her eyes away from Fitz and moved on to her real task. 

She pulled up her audio files and closed her eyes. 

_“This is Doctor Jemma Simmons updating the file on the monolith Fitz and I have been studying.”_  

The first entries were hard to listen to as Jemma struggled to survive.

_“It’s been three weeks, Fitz. If I don’t find something, if I don’t eat, I won’t make it.”_

But the ones after that hurt Jemma even more. They were the beginning of Jemma learning to survive, Jemma leaving behind her life with Fitz and S.H.I.E.L.D. and becoming part of the planet.

_“You’d be so proud of me, Fitz. I killed the monster plant. Then I made a fire, cooked him, and ate him. And I burped. Really loud. Wish you could have been here… actually no I don’t. I won’t wish that on anyone.”_  

_“Everyone always said we could read each other’s minds, Fitz. So I really need you to read mine right now. I’m alive, but I’m terribly alone and afraid. So I really need you to come and get me, okay? I know you won’t give up, so I won’t either.”_

Jemma started crying after that. She had failed him.

_“You’ll notice I’m giving less updates to conserve battery power. I’ve been on this stupid planet for a month now. I lost my way to the entry point. I need to find-”_  

That was the day she met Will. 

There were only a few, short updates after that, telling Fitz that she had met another human being, an astronaut sent by NASA, that there was something else out there but she didn’t know what it was. And then one final message: 

_“Goodbye, Fitz. I’ll see you soon.”_  

But she hadn’t seem him soon. 

Jemma pressed her face into her pillow to try and smother her sobs. She was so glad that she had been able to save a man from spending eternity on that godforsaken planet, but it had cost her so much. It had cost her _Fitz_ … and that wasn’t something Jemma was willing to part with. 

Jemma sat up, wiping the tears from her face, as she pulled out her tablet and began transferring files. She wasn’t going to let things end like this. 

The next morning, Will approached her saying he felt ready to go see his family. 

Jemma beamed at him. “That’s great, Will! Do you need anyone to go with you?” 

Will exhaled slowly. “Bobbi offered to take me to go get settled. But I need to know about you, Jemma, about us.” 

Jemma took a deep breath. This was the moment of truth. “Will, I- I can’t thank you enough, for everything you did for me. You saved my life out there so many times, and I- I don’t know how I can put into words how grateful I am.” She paused. “But… You and me… I… I never thought I’d see home again. I was trying to make myself a life on that horrible planet, and I liked our life, but that wasn’t where I belonged, Will. It was all about survival, fighting day to day to stay alive and trying not to go crazy alone with just the death dust cloud man following us around. But, without that, I don’t know if this-” she gestured between them “-makes sense.” Jemma fought back tears. “What we had on that planet was great, Will. It meant the world to me while we were there. But, as soon as I told Fitz the whole story about what happened to me and about us, he jumped up to help me, without even a second thought. Working with him, _that’s_ where I belong. I can’t see myself anywhere else. You mean _so much_ to me, Will, but...” 

“I’m not Fitz,” Will finished for her nodding, a knowing smile on his face, even though his eyes were sad. “I get it. I’ve really known that from the beginning, Jemma, from way before we were together. And even if I didn’t know it then, anyone could have seen it from the day you came to get me. All you could think about was Fitz that whole walk back. You said you couldn’t live without him, and then he was priority number one once we made it through the portal. It wasn’t too hard to figure out, Jem. It’s always been you two. I’m sorry I came between that.”

“No!” Jemma almost yelled, trying to make it clear that Will was not allowed to blame himself for anything. “No, you didn’t! Everything was as much me as it was you. I just didn’t think I would ever see even a picture of Fitz again, much less actually be back with him. But now that I am back and you’re back, too… I can’t lose this. I can’t lost Fitz. The monolith stole our chance before… I can’t let it go again.” 

“I understand, Jemma.” Will pulled her in for a hug, which Jemma returned fiercely. “It’s been an adventure, I’ll say that much.” He sighed and pulled back. “I’ll go find Bobbi and say bye to Mack. Thanks for saving me, Jemma.” He smiled genuinely. “I’ll see you around.” 

Jemma nodded. “Bye, Will.” 

Will turned down the hall toward the lounge, presumably to find Mack, while Jemma immediately took off toward the lab. 

“Jemma.” 

Bobbi’s voice caught Jemma off guard as she stopped suddenly outside her friend’s workout room. 

“Hey Bobbi.”

“Did Will find you?” she asked in her I’m-really-not-trying-to-probe-but-I-actually-do-really-need-to-know-this-information tone that Jemma had grown very accustomed to over the past couple months. 

Jemma nodded. “We talked. He’s probably heading to find you now. He was just saying goodbye to Mack.” 

Bobbi raised her eyebrows. “So, you guys…?” 

Jemma offered Bobbi a half smile and kept walking. 

The lab was nearly empty when Jemma reached it. Only one person stood hovering over a computer monitor. 

“Fitz.” 

The man looked up, clearly surprised to see her. 

Jemma walked over to him and held out a black flash drive. “Take it.”

Fitz picked up the device from her hand hesitantly, staring up at her, unsure. 

“This is how I survived that first month, and even most of the next four, on that planet,” Jemma said evenly. “Everything from before my phone died, before I gave up hope.” 

“But why-” 

“I just need you to go through it, Fitz,” Jemma said, backing away. “There’s some stuff I need you to know.” 

And she walked quickly from the lab, leaving behind a very confused Fitz.

Jemma spent the rest of the day pacing around the base and eventually her room as night fell, terrified that Fitz wouldn’t understand, that Fitz would accuse her of giving up on him, that Fitz would tell her to go be with Will. The first two Jemma knew were irrational, since Fitz had already time and time again proven himself to be the most compassionate and understanding person Jemma had ever met, but the third worry Jemma knew was extremely valid, going by Fitz’s behavior over the past four weeks. She just hoped he would hear her out. 

It was about ten o’clock when the knock finally came. She knew it was Fitz just from that. He always knocked the same way. 

Jemma opened the door and found herself face to face with her best friend. He was carrying two mugs of tea, just as he had four weeks before when all this had started. For them tea meant comfort and home and everything that Jemma needed right now. Even when she had barely spoken to him for a week, Fitz understood her perfectly. 

“Is now a good time to talk?” he asked. 

Jemma smiled at him as she took one of the mugs, wondering what she could have possibly done to deserve having Leopold Fitz in her life. “Now’s perfect.” 

Fitz sat down on the edge of her bed, and Jemma hopped onto the mattress by the headboard sitting cross-legged, her heart racing. 

Silence stretched between them 

“I’m still not completely sure why you showed me all that, Jemma,” Fitz said finally. “And the picture and the video?” 

“I told you, that’s how I survived there,” Jemma began to explain. “I talked to you; sometimes I recorded it, sometimes I didn’t. But most of the battery of my phone probably went to that or to me looking at that picture of you or the video of the team. I missed everyone so much, but mostly I missed you. Every update I recorded was to you, Fitz. Just the thought of you kept me sane, kept me alive. Even when I met Will and was able to have actual human company, I still said goodnight to you every night. I still talked about you constantly. Every time I had to solve a problem, I always asked you.” Jemma took a deep breath. “There’s no one else for me, Fitz. Just you.” 

“But, Will-” 

“-was there for me when I needed him, and I was the same for him. He saved my life, and I wouldn’t be here without him. But anything romantic between us… that was all after I had completely given up hope of ever getting home again. Of ever seeing you again. I was trying to make the most of the life I’d been given, and Will was a great guy and we’d gotten to rely on each other and trust each other, so it just happened. But never for one _second_ before I lost power on my phone, before we didn’t make it through the portal, before I lost any hope I had of ever seeing you again, did I even come close to thinking about anything like that. It was all about you. Will said back when we’d known each other maybe a month that your name was my ‘favorite word’ since I said it so much, that you and I couldn’t just be best friends. He was right, Fitz. The second I saw that flare, I knew it was you. I ran, _sprinted_ , to get there, to get to you. Will stayed behind so I could find you because even he understood that even though I could get through life with him on that planet just fine, where I belong is here with you, Fitz. Even on that planet a week ago when you disappeared, that was all I could think about. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to live if you were dead.” Jemma paused for a moment, caught up remembering their trek tacross the alien planet and the dust cloud that she thought had taken away the most important person in her entire world. Finally she continued. “Will’s an amazing person. He kept me from going insane out there by myself. But he’s not you, Fitz.” 

Fitz looked almost confused. “So, when Bobbi and Will left earlier today…” 

“That was Will leaving for good,” Jemma said, nodding. “We talked this morning, and he knows how I feel. He said he already knew, even from before he and I were together. He said that it’s always been us you and me.” Jemma took a deep breath, staring down at her comforter. All in. “I love you, Fitz.” She looked up at him, trying to show him how much she meant it. “I’ve loved you for probably a lot longer than I realized, and I know after all the things you’ve done for me, saving Will, saving _me_ , I don’t even come close to deserving you. You’re too kind and too good, and I’m so sorry for everything I’ve done to hurt you because you’re the absolute last person in the world who deserves that.” Jemma sniffled, wiping tears from her cheeks as she fixed her gaze on Fitz’s knee. “I won’t blame you at all if you walk out of here right now, Fitz, but I just need you to know that I loved you before I got sucked into that portal and I loved you the entire time I was on that other planet and I have never stopped loving you and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to stop loving you. This is it for me, Fitz. You’re it. No more space boyfriends and alien portals. Just you and me.” She paused. “If that’s what you want.” 

Jemma stopped and looked up at Fitz, terrified of what he was going to say.

Fitz was staring at the floor, not giving Jemma any hints about what he was thinking. But suddenly, without warning, he moved toward her and pressed his lips against hers.

Jemma responded almost instantly, her arms wrapping around his neck as she moved as close to Fitz as possible. _This_ was what she had been missing. This was more than just comfort and trust and desperation and infatuation. This was love. Deep, pure love rooted in over ten years of friendship, conflict after conflict, heartache, tears, loss, joy, excitement: every possible kind of emotion. 

“I love you, Jemma,” Fitz said softly, between hungry, passionate kisses that ran from her lips to her jaw to her neck back to her lips. “Always.” 

Jemma had to pull back for a moment, tears still on her cheeks as she shook her head. “But I don’t deserve you, Fitz. I can’t just expect you to love me after all this.” 

Fitz brought his hand to her cheek, a smile on his face wider than any Jemma seen since she had gotten home, a look in his eyes that Jemma had seen so many times, that one that made her feel loved, adored, as though she was the only thing that mattered in the universe. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Jemma.” His thumb swiped at a tear running down her cheek. “I understand why you made the choices you did. It’s okay. You deserve anything you want, Jemma.” He let out a small laugh, shaking his head. “I can barely even believe this is real.” He looked up at her, his face now serious. “But, so you know, I'm never gonna stop loving you either, Jemma. Never, _ever_ , worry about that.” 

Jemma threw her arms around Fitz’s neck, still sniffling. “Thank you,” she said softly into his shoulder. 

“I love you,” was all Fitz said in reply. 

Jemma’s lips curled into a smile, and she felt whole for the first time since the monolith pulled her away from Fitz and the team. “I love you too. So much.”


End file.
